Means for limiting axial movement in a hinge hanger assembly



Dec. 16, 1969 J. P. HOLLAND MEANS FOR LIMITING AXIAL MOVEMENT IN A HINGE HANGER ASSEMBLY Filed Nov. 1, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VENTOR.

gfazzd ATTORNEYS bee. 16, 1969 HOLLAND 3,484,812

MEANS FOR LIMITING AXIAL MOVEMENT IN A HINGE HANGER ASSEMBLY Filed Nov. 1, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

(/21 fg/gogiazzd y W 9 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,484,812 MEANS FOR LIMITING AXIAL MOVEMENT IN A HINGE HANGER ASSEMBLY John P. Holland, Sterling, Ill., assignor to Frantz Manufacturing Company, Sterling, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Nov. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 772,627 Int. Cl. E05d 15/38 US. Cl. 160-201 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A roller shaft for a roller hinge assembly which is adapted to support and guide a door in the track of an overhead door installation having a groove to define an annular shoulder which prevents the removal of the shaft from the hinge assembly when the shaft is canted in the bearing surfaces of the hinge assembly by the weight of the door, but which enables the removal of the shaft from the bearing surfaces of the assembly when the axis of the shaft coincides with the axis of the bearing surfaces.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention pertains to the shaft having means to limit axial movement and particularly adapted for supporting a roller of a roller hinge assembly of an overhead door installation.

Prior art In an overhead door installation, a door composed of a plurality of panels interconnected by hinges is supported and guided by a track system comprising a pair of tracks having vertical sections disposed adjacent the opening of which the door is closing, and horizontal sections or portions, which are connected to the vertical sections by a curved section for supporting the door in a retracted position. The door is supported and guided by the track system by use of a plurality of rollers which are mounted in brackets which usually are part of the hinge holding the door panels together. To prevent binding of the door in the track system, the shafts supporting the rollers are free to move axially with respect to their brackets so that the door may move laterally with respect to the track sys tem to adjust for any misalignment of the installation. Due to misalignments particularly in the horizontal sections of the track system, the amount of lateral movement of the door may exceed the length of the shaft so that the shaft may be accidently removed from the bracket causing a malfunction of the door installation. One solution to the above problem is the provision of a separate fastening or retaining means such as a snap ring or a cotter pin which limits the amount of relative axial movement between the shaft and the mounting bracket. The use of a separate retaining means has the disadvantages of requiring additional time in the installation of the overhead door system or installation, of failing due to wear during use of the door installation and of increasing the time for removing the roller shafts from the mounting brackets during any repairing operation of the door installation.-

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a roller shaft having integral means such as an annular shoulder which allows 3,484,812 Patented Dec. 16, 1969 AS SHOWN ON THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The principles of the present invention are best illustrated by a hinge assembly and mounting bracket generally indicated at 10 which is supporting and guiding a door generally indicated at 11 of an overhead door assembly in a track system generally indicated at 12. The door 11 comprises panels such as 13 and 14 which are interconnected by the hinge and mounting bracket assembly 10. The track system 12 comprises a vertical section and horizontal section interconnected by a curve section which is disposed on each side of the opening being closed by the door 11. The track system 12 is formed of a metal member 15 which is bent to provide a guide path for the roller 16 which guides and supports the door 11.

The hinge and bracket assembly 10 comprises a bracket portion 17 and a second portion 18 which are attached to their respective panels 14 and 13 by fastening means such as bolts 19. The bracket portion 17 has upstanding sides 20 and 21 which are provided with a pair of aligned apertures receiving a hinge pintle 22 of which a knuckle 23 of the second portion 18 is wrapped around to interconnect the two portions together to form the hinge assembly 10.

The upstanding sides 20 and 21 are each provided with an aperture 24 and 25 respectively which are axially aligned to provide axially aligned and spaced circular bearing surfaces 26 and 27 respectively (FIG. 3) for receiving a shaft 28 on which the roller 16 is axially fixedly but rotatably mounted at one end. The shaft 28 is provided with a positive stop means 29 which, as best illustrated in FIG. 3, comprises a pair of radially extended abutments 30, 30, which are projections formed by crimping opposite sides of the shaft 28 for limiting the relative axial movement of the roller 16 toward the side flange 20.

To limit the relative axial movement of the roller 16 away from the bracket portion 17, the shaft 28 is provided with means generally indicated at 31 which is integral with the shaft. In the preferred embodiment, as best illustrated in FIG. 2, the means 31 is provided adjacent a free end 32 of the shaft 28 and comprises an annular groove 33 having side walls 34 and 35 and a bottom 36. The side wall 34 forms an annular shoulder having an outer diameter that is substantially the same as the diameter of the outer surface 37 of the intermediate portion of the shaft. The side wall 35 has a co-axial frusto-conical configuration and provides a tapered lead-in surface between the outer surface 37 of the shaft and the bottom 36 of the groove 33.

As best illustrated in FIG. 3, the outer surface 37 of the shaft 26 has a loose fit in the annular bearing surfaces 26 and 27 formed by the apertures 24 and 25. As the assembly 10 supports the weight of the door by transferring the doors weight to the truck system 12, the shaft 28 is slightly canted so that, as illustrated in FIG. 3, it engages the bearing surface 27 formed by the aperture 25 at a point 39 which is diametrically opposite the point 38. As the roller 16 moves away from the bracket 17, the shaft 28 moves in a relative axial direction with the bracket 17 until the point of contact 39 of the bearing 27 moves along the lead-in surface 35 into contact with the bottom 36 of the groove 33. Further axial movement is prevented by the shoulder or side wall 34 engaging a peripheral portion of the surface 40 of the upstanding side 21 that is adjacent the aperture 25. The point of contact 39 is forced into engagement or contact with the bottom 36 of the groove 33 by the same forces which cause the canting or cocking of the shaft 28 in its contact with the apertures 24 and 25 as it supports a load.

As the roller 16 and the door 11 move relatively toward one another, the point of contact 39 rides up the lead-in surface 35 to enable the shaft outer surface 37 of the intermediate portion to become reengaged with the bearing 27. If the groove 33 had a side wall 35 which was parallel to the side wall 34, the point of contact 39, once it was received in the groove 33, would be retained in the position illustrated in FIG. 3, until some external force were applied to enable the shaft 28 to move relative to the bracket 17 to a position such as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Since the outer diameter of the shoulder formed by the side wall 34 of the groove 33 does not exceed or is substantially the same as the diameter of the surface 37 of the shaft 28, the shaft 28 can be easily removed from the bracket portion 17 by removing the weight of the door 11 and aligning the axis of the shaft to be substantially coincidental with the axis of the spaced apertures 24 and 25. When the shaft 28 is aligned with the apertures 24 and 25, the shaft can be easily removed from the bracket portion 19 during a disassembly operation and can be easily inserted through the apertures 24 and 25 during an assembly operation. To facilitate the insertion, the free end 32 of the shaft 28 may be provided with a chamber or circular bevel 41.

As illustrated, the assembly is attached to the lefthand side of the door 11 to cooperate with the left side track of the track system 12 and is viewed from inside of the building looking at the back side of the door. The hinge assembly 10 can be readily utilized on the righthand side of the panel with the only variation being that the shaft 28 would be inserted into the bracket through the aperture and then through the aperture 24 instead of first being inserted through the aperture 24 and then the aperture 25 as illustrated. The assembly 10 provides a flexibility so that the assembly 10 can be utilized either on the leftor right-hand side of the door 11. Another advantage of the assembly 10 is that the roller and shaft 28 can be packaged as one unit and the hinge assembly 10 can be packaged as another unit and both can be shipped individually with a savings in space over a hinge assembly in which the roller shaft and bracket are assembled and shipped together.

Although minor modifications might be suggested by those skilled in the art, it should be understood that I wish to employ within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

I claim as my invention:

1. A roller shaft adapted to be supported in a pair of axially spaced bearings formed by apertures in upstanding sides of a mounting bracket, said roller shaft comprising a shaft having a roller fixedly attached axially to one end thereof for rolling engagement on a track and means integral with said shaft providing limited relative axial movement of said shaft and roller as a unit to insure a supporting relationship between said shaft and said bearings while said shaft is supporting a load and enabling ready insertion of said shaft into said bearings and removal therefrom while said shaft is in an unloaded condition.

2. A roller shaft according to claim 1, wherein said means comprises an annular shoulder on said shaft having an outer diameter less than the diameter of the hearing surface of each of the bearings.

3. A roller shaft according to claim 2, wherein said shoulder is disposed on the end of said shaft opposite said roller whereby the maximum axial distance between the roller and the bearings is limited by said shoulder.

4. A roller shaft according to claim 2, wherein said shoulder is defined by a side wall of an annular groove on said shaft.

5. A roller shaft according to claim 4, wherein said annular groove has an opposite side wall defining a tapered lead-in surface enabling a bearing surface disposed in said groove to move axially away from said shoulder onto the major surface of said shaft.

6. In an overhead door assembly including a bracket carried by the door and providing spaced, axially aligned circular bearing surfaces, a shaft having an intermediate cylindrical portion freely extending through and mounted in said bearing surfaces and having a free end there- 'beyond, a roller fixedly axially but rotatably carried by the other end of said shaft, a track supporting said roller for movement thereover when said shaft and bracket are in door-carrying, load-bearing relationship, the improvement which comprises providing as said shaft,

a shaft having at its free end an annular shoulder freely passable through the openings provided by said circular bearing surfaces to permit ready axial insertion of said shaft into and withdrawal from supported relationship by said surfaces, said shaft having an annular groove inwardly of said annular shoulder, and said groove presenting a co-axial frustoconical surface tapered radially inwardly toward said annular shoulder,

whereby if the roller end of said shaft is caused to move sufficiently outwardly of said bearing surfaces while the shaft is under load said fiustoconical surface will cause said shaft to assume a canted position and be revented from further outward movement solely by engagement of said annular shoulder with the peripheral edge of the adjacent one of said bearing surfaces.

7. A roller assembly adapted to support a door on a track system, comprising a mounting bracket having a pair of upstanding sides, each of said sides having apertures to provide a pair of axially aligned bearing surfaces; and

a shaft disposed in said pair of bearing surfaces for axial and rotational movement, said shaft having a roller axially fixedly but rotatably mounted at one end, and having an annular shoulder having an outer diameter such as to enable insertion and removal of the shaft when the axis of the shaft coincides with the axis of said pair of axially aligned bearing surfaces, and said shoulder having adjacent thereto an annular groove of less diameter limiting the axial movement of the shaft in said bearing surfaces when the adjacent bearing surface to said groove comes into bearing contact with the wall of said groove and said axis of said shaft is canted with respect to the axis of said bearing surfaces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,974,147 9/1934 Bittorf 16104 2,039,296 5/1936 Collins 191 2,070,557 2/1937 Bartel 16-104 X 2,072,514 3/1937 Daniell 160-209 2,266,042 12/1941 Hufferd et a1. 16137 2,442,309 5/1948 Norberg 160193 2,624,065 1/ 1953 Moler.

3,361,489 1/1968 Gionet 1697 DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 16-97 

